roadtoswe

I know this has probably been asked before many times, but wondering if the steps to becoming a software engineer have changed given the rise in popularity of LLMs, and whether someone in their early 30s even has a chance of becoming a software engineer (at FAANG or other companies with similar compensation and competitiveness) with no prior programming experience.

Some background: Early 30s, no programming experience. Interested in starting with Python as that is the language that has the most intuitive syntax for me, and because of its obvious popularity in the AI/ML world.

Questions: 1) Is it too late to become a software engineer at FAANG or other companies with similar compensation? Money is not the only driving factor, but it is helpful. Assume a reasonably motivated individual, but no prior programming experience and minimal math experience.

2) If it is not too late, what would be a well-delineated roadmap for someone to become a software engineer (courses/textbooks/math/etc) that is interested in AI/ML/GenAI? Currently going through CS50 Programming with Python.

3) Do AI/ML/GenAI jobs typically want a Masters/PhD CS grad? What other areas of software engineering are interesting and/or underexplored?